It’s the rarest of finds: A black rhino. So let’s kill it.

In this Jan. 5, 2003, photo released by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows a black rhino male and calf in Mkuze, South Africa. The organizer of a Texas hunting club’s planned auction of a permit that will allow a hunter to bag an endangered black rhino in Africa is hoping it raises up to $1 million for rhino preservation.

They think of themselves as rugged outdoorsmen. Tough guys with big guns. Brawny dudes who aren’t afraid of venturing into the wilds of Africa to stalk and kill endangered wild game.

The club’s executive director, Ben Carter, says this has been the practice for years among hunters. They pay conservation programs for the right to auction wild game hunts, which is a way of ensuring the killing of animals is limited so that they have a chance to regenerate their herds. “But this has never been applied to an endangered species,” he told Dallas Morning News reporter Ray Sasser. “It’s a big, bold idea, and it’s new. We expected a certain level of surprise, scrutiny and criticism.”

Big. Bold. Those are testosterone words. Well, let me be among the first to fulfill Carter’s expectations of scrutiny and criticism.

What do these hunters hope to get out of this? The lucky auction winner will travel to the wilds of Namibia, where he will stalk one of about 5,000 black rhinos still in existence. Using a high-powered rifle and scope, most likely, he will put this beautiful beast in his crosshairs, pull the trigger, and end the rhino’s life in a fraction of a second. The animal won’t stand a chance. It won’t have any semblance to a fair fight between man and beast.

Hired hands will then drag the carcass somewhere. They will chop its head off and pack it in a container so that Mister Big Tough Hunter can send it to a taxidermist. Weeks later, voila, the dead rhino’s head gets mounted on the hunter’s wall.

Wow, that’s pretty manly. Like something right out of the 1950s, back when nobody paid attention to these things and, in fact, celebrated such slaughter.

Here’s a better idea: Have your auction. Send the hunter to Namibia with a really nice camera. Mount the photo of the rhino on his wall, and call it a day. Let these beautiful animals live. That’s the manly — and sporting — thing to do.

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The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board was the first editorial board in the nation to use a blog to openly discuss hot topics and issues among its members and with readers. Our intent is to pull back the curtain on the daily process of producing the unsigned editorials that reflect the opinion of the newspaper, and to share analysis and opinion on issues of interest to board members and invited guest bloggers.